KVF’s top brass a big letdown to the brand that is Malkia Strikers

The events that have transpired in African volleyball in the past week could easily make a script for a record-selling comedy.

From Cairo to Nairobi, the volleyball federations of Egypt and Kenya have made shocking decisions with just two months left until the biggest sports competition in the world - the Olympic Games.

Africa’s representatives at this year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games volleyball competition, Egypt men's and Kenya women’s teams, will head to the French capital with new head coaches at the helm.

On Monday, the Egyptian Volleyball Federation (EVBF) announced that Fernando Munoz from Spain would lead the Pharaohs at the Paris Olympics, replacing Italian Flavio Gulinelli as head coach.

The move came as a surprise given that Gulinelli helped Egypt reclaim the African Nations Championship title in Cairo last year after an eight-year drought.

He went on to guide the Pharaohs to the Paris 2024 Olympic qualification tournament, where they claimed 3-2 victories over Tunisia and Japan.

Egypt finished seventh

Overall, Egypt finished seventh in Pool "B", but their five-point tally, which also took in a 3-2 loss to Finland, helped them topple Tunisia and become Africa’s top-ranked nation on the FIVB rankings hence punching the ticket to Paris in line with the universality principle. But on Monday, EVBF announced Al Ahly coach Munoz as the new national team coach despite Gulinelli having a clause in his contract that he would remain head coach at the Paris Olympics if he helped them qualify.

Interestingly, in his first stint as Egypt coach between December 2015 and May 2016, Gulinelli won the African qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games but did not attend the Summer Games after falling out with then EVBF President Fouad Abdelsalam. Egyptian legend Sherif El Shemerly eventually coached the Pharaohs at the Rio Olympics.

The more things change, the more they remain the same, especially in Africa! Oh, poor Flavio!

Ukistaajabu ya Musa, utayaona ya Firauni (no pun intended). Back home, the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) on Sunday announced the new look technical bench that will guide Malkia Strikers at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Japheth Munala will be the head coach, assisted by KVF Deputy President Paul Bitok and Janet Wanja. The clincher was that KVF President Charles Nyaberi will be the new Team Manager.

Barely a month after KVF turned down technical support under the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme, cracks have started to emerge at the National Executive Committee (NEC). For the first time in the history of Kenyan volleyball, two NEC members will hold technical roles at Malkia Strikers.

New look technical bench

Maybe, just maybe, this is the combination that will finally deliver Kenya’s first win at the Olympic Games.

Nyaberi was at pains to explain why this new look technical bench was “Godsend” during an interview on the NTV sports show SportOn! on Monday night.

According to Nyaberi, the decision to replace KVF Vice President (Gender) Lilian Mududa as Team Manager was democratic having been subjected to a vote during a “thorough” NEC meeting on Sunday.

The mere fact that the President had no reservations in offering himself to be voted as Team Manager for this particular assignment speaks volumes about the ethical issues at KVF.

Bitok, whose coaching credentials are beyond doubt, is on record saying he would exit coaching once he was voted in as KVF Deputy President.

It’s only reasonable that he embraces his new status as Deputy President. If anything, there is no shortage of local coaches who can take up the assistant coach role.

Up in arms

The local volleyball fraternity has been up in arms since Sunday, taking to WhatsApp groups to protest the decision by KVF’s top hierarchy to nominate themselves to Malkia Strikers technical bench.

I hope that sanity will prevail and that the decency and sobriety that were common during the late Waithaka Kioni’s reign will return at KVF.

But even as the dust settles in Cairo and Nairobi, Munala and Munoz have their work cut out. Munoz, who has won all available trophies with Al Ahly this season, is widely expected to have a smooth transition to the national team.

The majority of his provisional squad comprises Al Ahly players he has worked with at the club level all season, with a sprinkling of a few Zamalek players.

As for Munala, he has to navigate the usual selection headache of balancing between the top four clubs - Kenya Prisons, KCB, Kenya Pipeline and DCI.

After that, he has to restore confidence in the girls after an underwhelming start to the year that has seen Malkia Strikers lose thrice to Egypt.

Unfortunately, time is not on his side as Malkia Strikers are expected in Manila, Philippines, for the 2024 Women’s Volleyball Challenger Cup (VCC) from July 4 to 7, after which they proceed to Paris for the Olympic Games scheduled from July 26 to August 11.

The winner of the VCC in both gender categories automatically qualifies for next year’s Volleyball Nations League, which will now have 18 teams moving forward. Munoz’s first assignment as Egypt coach will be the men’s VCC in Linyi, China, from July 4 to 7, and it’s encouraging that his team has already started preparations for this competition and the Paris Olympics.

Malkia Strikers' provisional squad is yet to be named, and it is unclear when they will report to camp. The magnitude of the assignments ahead calls for proper preparations, but KVF seems to have misplaced priorities if the recent incident of the composition of the technical bench is anything to go by.

When the history of Kenyan volleyball is documented, a chapter should be reserved for the drama that ensued in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

History will judge us harshly, but who cares?

Samuel Gacharira is a freelance journalist and sports consultant [email protected]